The Initiate
by Anastashia
Summary: Six year old Tyr explores the consequences of entering the Progenitor's Sanctum unbidden


The Initiate  
  
I'd tried to hide as the progenitor's guardian made her rounds, but then that's why she was the guardian. "Six," she said "six years old and you aren't too young to feel the lash." No I wasn't. But it wasn't something I was too eager to do that particular day.  
  
I'd been caught before. The punishment had made me stay away for quite some time. Yet here I was again and I hadn't yet figured out how not to get caught. Not good.  
  
"Sit down" she said startling me. "As I recall you were hurting pretty badly the last time you left here." I looked at her face. She was right. It had been VERY painful. I looked at her again. Yes, I was sure she had only been invested the previous fall. One of the youngest ones. Thirteen. I looked yet again. Raven colored hair, the deepest darkest eyes, and a complexion of caramel. 'And you're six Tyr' I thought to myself. 'If only I was seven years older.'  
  
She bent over and started to lift me. I stiffened slightly, still not sure that the lash wasn't in my immediate future. One doesn't enter the shrine unbidden unless prepared to suffer the consequences. "Shhh" she said as she carried me arround the back of the altar.  
  
I had been talking with my brother Tavon the week before. My brother was 10 and had decided to share something with his younger brother. "Do you know what our father and mother do when they are alone together?" The question was totally out of context with our previous line of discussion. Of course I knew what my father and mother, my father and any of his mates, did when they were alone together. My father had already started teaching me.  
  
"But we're not 13 yet" I said with complete innocence. "And what makes you think we have to be 13?" "Well...the investiture, the mating ritual" I said. My brother's smirk almost made me blush. "The shrine guardians have to be 13 but that doesn't mean..." He saw the look on my face. "You're hopeless" he said in disgust walking away. Then I blushed.  
  
She set me down on a low wall. She removed my vest. She took my chin in her hand turning my face first right, then left, then back to face her. "You are already beautiful" she said, almost to herself. She placed her hand on my stomach, I cocked my head quizzically and she gave me a warm smile. She picked me up and sat down putting me in her lap.  
  
"Tell me about yourself" she said. I babled happily about the games at school. I was bigger than most of the other six yr olds. Did well. She told me about her own athletic prowess. She queried me about my academic endeavors. "I do well," I replied "but I'm not the best". "A husband and father must do his best in all things." she said to me gravely. Yes my father had told me that, but he had never expressed disappointment in any of my efforts.  
  
We continued to talk about our lifes as she put me down, replaced my vest, and took my hand. There were wonderous things to see in the shrine. We returned to the front of the altar. She took a key from the pouch on her belt and placed it in the casque which held the remains of the progenitor. She rested her thumb on the next pad. Then she placed her hands over my ears and very quietly spoke. I knew enough to not listen.  
  
As she lifted the lid of the casque I stepped behind her peeking out to one side. I trembled as I saw him. She stepped smoothly behind me and put one hand on each side of my waist. She squatted behind me bringing her mouth to my ear.  
  
"One views to the body of the progenitor Tyr Anasazi to feel.., to learn.., to decide.., to return to one's inner self all that we are. But what one feels.., one learns.., one decides.., that is his alone. Are you Tyr Anasazi? Or are you yet a child?" The silence settled upon me, I looked into the progenitor's face, trembled again, and turned to face her. She rose effortlessly and closed the casque behind us replacing the key in her pouch." "One comes to the shrine upon one's request or upon his command, but never uninvited" I hung my head.  
  
"You're six," she said as she carried me to a portal in the back recess of the shrine. "If you go now, you'll escape the lash." I looked up and her face and gave her a winsome smile. I was rewarded with a merry laugh as I carefully slipped out into the dark alley. 


End file.
